Thank you to all of our attendees who joined us for the 2010 I.D.E.A.S. Conference! It was great success!

We look forward to seeing you next year!

Please click on the link below for PowerPoint Presentations and/or handouts:

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WELCOME

A very warm welcome to the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence 2010 annual conference. We have named this year’s conference “I.D.E.A.S.”

I have been traveling around the state dialoguing with member programs, and I’ve been hearing that we are now at a place where we are beyond the basics. We want to strengthen what we have and who we are and look to the ideas that will carry us into the future.

Those of us who work in the field understand how challenging it is to provide help to families who have undergone serious trauma. This trauma affects not only those who have experienced it firsthand but also those of us who work with these families- our staff, our board and even our communities. That is why one of our keynotes this year is Sarah Yanosy of the Sanctuary Institute, who will speak about how to develop and maintain a culture of physical and emotional safety for everyone. I first became aware of this trauma-informed model and its application to DV shelters at a conference several years ago, and I was amazed at how well the Institute seemed to understand our challenges. Not only did they understand them, but they had a workable solution.

The second key focus of this year’s conference is batterer intervention. As a state, we are moving toward the development of standards and trainings to guide our work with batterers; we therefore wanted to ensure that we offered an opportunity for us all to get a good grounding in the issues. We are excited to welcome Larry Bennett of the University of Illinois at Chicago and David Garvin of Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw County to give plenary sessions on the topic.  

In our efforts to eliminate DV, it is imperative that no one be left out. We need a broad range of ideas from a diverse spectrum of people. To that end, we are excited to include in your program presenters from Minnesota’s Casa de Esperanza, the Las Cruces-based Encuentro Latino National Institute on Family Violence, and Albuquerque’s Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women.

This conference is about new ideas. As we conceived of this program, we thought about words like innovation, discovery, enlightenment, alternatives, and sustainability. What does I.D.E.A.S. mean for you? We hope you will share your ideas throughout the conference and beyond as we work together to eliminate domestic violence in our state.

Pamela Wiseman

Executive Director

New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence